MATH:

(Mai/Naru)

(I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, the last volume would have a different ending)

Mai furrowed her eyebrows, hunching over the packet of papers. There weren't many things in this world that Mai hated. Quite few, actually. But math was one of them. Math was the terrible two, right next to English. Kazuya Shibuya might be on that list, if it wasn't for the fact that the brunette was head-over-heels in love with him. The only problem was, Mai Taniyama also hated Naru. He was everything in a person that she disliked; moody, grumpy, cold, arrogant, and completely narcissistic! (Hence the nickname Naru). Still, he never let her down before. There were parts about him that she loved too. She loved how terse he was to everyone else, though it was clear that he cared about everyone in SPR. In a different way, maybe. But she knew that her boss couldn't be completely heartless. He was cold, yes, cold and insulting.

But the little things made up for it- how he always managed to save them, how once in a blue moon he left his office door open so he could hear the conversations going on outside. When he fell into a sewer for Mai, and when he took the blow for her when the roof collapsed. He might use the excuse 'it would be pointless and a waste of time to get a new assistant' a lot, but Mai knew better. She knew how to read people. He did care. She knew he did. Naru just had a funny way of showing it.

"Gah!" she screamed in frustration as she furiously erased her last answer. "I think I'm losing my mind!" All the numbers were blurring together into a mess of nothing sensible!

"Interesting statement," Lin muttered as he passed.

Mai scowled as the tall raven-haired man grabbed a few papers from the other table and returned back to his laptop. "Really?" she murmured to herself. "The one time he comes out of his office?" Scribbling out answers, she rested her head down in defeat. It didn't make any sense. Normally, she would just call it quits and accept that she was simply going to fail the math test. But now she was failing the subject altogether, along with English. She needed to get her act together if she didn't want to go to summer school.

And why do numbers and letters go together? How does that make sense? Math is numbers, English is letters. Why don't you just keep them apart?

Mai felt like slamming her head down at the desk. Repeatedly. But she didn't want Lin to think she was an even bigger weirdo than he already thought she was. He was probably debating whether or not to commit her to a mental institution now, or the next morning. Which she wouldn't mind if he had her committed the next morning. That meant she could get out of her math test.

She supposed she could simply fake a cold and stay home from school tomorrow, but she'd already missed too many days of school. If she missed too many more, she would also go to summer school. All her absences were probably why she was doing so terrible at math, but immaturely, she blamed her teacher.

Mai just didn't get it. She raked a hand through her mop of brown hair, glowering at the paper in front of her. "I hate you."

There was no response.

Sighing, Mai glanced towards Naru's door. He was always claiming he was so smart and intelligent, (which he was, but that was no excuse to have such a giant ego!) he could probably already finished this and the test in the amount of time she spent on two problems. He's probably amazing at math. What I wouldn't give to have his brain for one day, she thought in contentment. The test would be a walk in the park.

A though occurred to her. If he's so good at math...? No. She shook her head. Naru would never agreed to help her study, not even if his life depended on it. Lin? That was laughable. She would've asked Bou-san or Ayako, but none of them were at the SPR office. A smile glowed on her face as she snapped her fingers. Naru would help her study. All he needed was a little bit of coaxing...

"Ne, Naru?"

"I'm busy," came the emotionless reply. The same response that she had been hearing all week.

"I have tea." Earl Grey tea. His favorite. And this time she got his tea without him even asking her. Or without her insulting him. She figured even if her attempt failed, it would still be a win-win situation. She'd earn some brownie points with her boss...okay, so it'd be a lose-lose situation. Sue her!

There was a silence.

"Come in."

Grinning victoriously, she turned the door open and walked in confidently, placing the tea on his desk with a bright smile. It was still hot and steaming. Often, when she got her boss' tea, it was cold by the time she got back, seeing that she usually got side-tracked by Bou-san and interesting things that weren't that interesting to her grumpy boss. "Good morning, Kazuya!"

Naru frowned at her, his cobalt colored eyes momentarily turning away from his computer. "It's the afternoon, idiot."

She blinked her big brown eyes, her cheeks flushing an angry red. Managing to restrain herself, she put her clenched fists behind her back. In amusement, Naru watched her from the corner of his eye. He briefly wondered where the signature 'Naru' was, along with the string of insults that came along with calling her an idiot. And tea? Without asking? Was Mai mentally stable?

"Oh, silly me. It is, isn't it?" She forced a smile. "I got you Earl Grey tea."

"Do you need to state the obvious for your brain to work competently?" he questioned, waiting in amusement for her insults. He liked toying with his short assistant. He liked seeing her cheeks flare up and her brown eyes flash dangerously. It was like watching a balloon swell up until it exploded. He had to admit she looked...endearing when she was angry. Her cheeks tinted, but the cheerful smile remained. Naru frowned. Was she hurt? His mouth pulled into a deeper line. What if she was sick?

"Are you feeling ill?"

She shook her head. "No, no- I'm fine! Thanks for being concerned."

"I wasn't concerned for your sake," he stated in a monotonous tone, although he wasn't speaking the entire truth. "I was worried that you would have to be sent home. Then I wouldn't get my tea."

She looked ready to burst, her lips pressed tightly together, a trembling smile straining tremendously on her lips. "W-well, tea is important. I, uh, er, have a, um-"

"Spit it out."

"Yes! Of course. I was maybe," she rocked nervously back and forth on the heels of her feet. "Wonderingifyoucouldhelpmestudyformymathtest?"

The side of his lips twitched upward. So this is what all the special treatment was about. He took a sip of his tea. "I see. Tell me, Mai, are you failing math?"

"N-no," she spluttered out, her cheeks still flaring. "Okay, maybe. I'll have to go to summer school if I fail this next test."

His smug smirk faded. Mai failing math wouldn't do him any good if she had to go to summer school. That meant she couldn't attend a majority of the cases, which meant less tea for him, and also meant less of Mai...which obviously didn't please him at all. "Bring your math items here."

"R-really?" she stuttered. "You mean it?"

"Do you want me to change my mind?"

She fist-pumped, causing Naru to roll his eyes. "YES! I never knew you were that easy to convince!" Biting back a retort, he watched in partial annoyance and partial humor as Mai ran out of the room in excitement. He didn't have anything to do anyway. 'I'm busy' actually meant playing multiple games of Solitaire.

Besides, Mai couldn't be that difficult to teach simple algebra basics to.

A half-hour later, Naru did not believe his last statement at all.

"You're hopeless," he stated as he leaned over her work. "It's completely wrong."

"WHAT?" Mai yelled, her brown eyes flittering over the page. "It can't be! I did it exactly how you told me to!"

"You're incapable of learning," he stated, grabbing a pencil and correcting her answers.

"Well, maybe you're incapable of teaching!"

"You're just stupid."

"UGH!" she threw her list of formulas down, running a hand through her tangled hair. "How do you get this?" her screams were muffled in her sleeves as she held her hands up to her mouth. "It's so unfair! I work on this for hours and you get it in five minutes?"

He smirked, "For the record, I got it in sixty seconds. And as I've told you various times before, our brains work differently. For example: I am skilled at solving equations and you are not."

"YOU'RE THE BIGGEST JERK EVER!"

"Perhaps."

"I'm going to fail this test tomorrow!"

"No, you're not," he finally relented, sighing. Naru leaned over Mai, his shoulder brushing hers. Her irritated demeanor immediately flashed to embarrassment from their close proximity. "Look-" he grabbed her hand, causing her to blush further. Placing the pencil in it, he guided her back down to the paper. "You have to do the parenthesis first."

"Why?" she questioned, tilting her head to look at him. Oh, Kami, they were way too close for comfort. "Why not just do-"

He cut her off, "This is your problem, Mai. You keep questioning all the mathematical rules. You can't do it your way. It just doesn't work. You have to do the parenthesis first. How do you solve the parenthesis? What do you use?"

In a mumble, Mai responded nervously, "Distributive property?"

"Yes."

In relief, she began to scribble down answers.

In the next hour, Naru's comments consisted of this:

"Yes."

"No- you have to subtract the two from the other side."

"Okay. No, Mai. You have to divide."

"It's fine."

"Idiot."

"Stop staring out the windows. Do you think the pigeons will give you Y?"

"Better," he announced, looking over her answers. "Much better. You only got two incorrect- these consisted of minor errors on your multiplication and subtraction."

Blushing sheepishly, she tucked a strand of hair over her ear. His voice was soft now, instead of cold and smug. "T-thank you for helping me, Naru." She collected her papers, shuffling them upward and sliding them onto the tea tray. "I'll do really good on the test-I just know it!"

He nodded silently, trying to fight back the smile making its way to his lips. Mai certainly was childish and obnoxious, but he had to admit that happened mostly when he provoked her. Naru didn't like physical contact either. Hugs, shoulder-pats, high-fives- all illogical and silly.

So, when Mai kissed his cheek, he expected to retract away. "Thanks again, Naru!" She retreated from his office, closing the door gingerly behind her.

Naru smiled, once he was sure she was gone. "You're welcome."

He would have to teach her more often.

A/N: I absolutely adore this anime/manga, so I thought I would post a one-shot for Mai and Naru, since they are one of the cutest couples ever even though they never actually...became a couple. I have the biggest crush on Naru. I hope I got his and Mai's character right, seeing as this is my first Ghost Hunt fanfic, with more to come! :) Reviews, follows, and favorites are very much appreciated! I absolutely hate math, I got a 48% on my final exam this year. I still passed, surprisingly. But, yeah. Math sucks.